In November, 108,950 non-EU nationals made a first application for international protection in a European Union country, up 11 percent from a year earlier, the European Union’s statistical office Eurostat said on Tuesday.
The November report on asylum data showed that 6,375 non-EU asylum seekers resubmitted their applications in November after previous refusals, compared with 5,265 in September and 6,225 in October.
As in the previous months, Syrians were the largest group of asylum seekers in November (23,460), followed by Turkish nationals (12,870), Afghans (7,930), Venezuelans (6,175) and Colombians (5,445).
Five EU countries — Germany (36,495), Italy (14,160), Spain (14,105), France (14,070) and Greece (10,285), accounted for 82 percent — of asylum applications.
In November, there were 243 first-time asylum seekers per million people in the EU as a whole. Cyprus had the highest rate, with 1,548 applicants per million inhabitants.
In the month under review, 3,510 unaccompanied minors applied to the authorities for international protection in an EU member state, compared to 5,040 in October. Most of the minors were Syrian (1,230) and Afghan (580). Most of them arrived in Germany (1,365), the Netherlands (615), Italy (315), Greece (305), and Bulgaria (265), according to the EU’s statistics office.
Last year, the EU reported that in 2022, asylum applications soared to 1 million, which was a 45 percent increase over 2021.
